UPLIFT - The revolution will be televised

CA$ 30,176

549

GIGANTIC THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED US GET TO OUR STRETCH GOAL AND BEYOND!!!

AIMING FOR STRETCH GOALS...

Stretch goal! $21K: we'll be able to produce a full pilot episode we can distribute online, to community groups and schools. The funding will allow us to have a second camera operator and additional local support on the ground during the shoot, and to cover more of the post production costs.

Super stretch! + If we blow past our target, we’ll be able to finance part of the series on our own and we’ll be in a much stronger position to negotiate with producers. We'll film a few episodes in different countries exploring hard-hitting issues and how they're being tackled, and release them as a documentary mini series.

ANNOUNCEMENT

We're thrilled that TV Director and winner of two Canadian Screen Awards, Jim Morrison IV, is joining forces with us to help take this project to the next level!

TV Director Jim Morrison IV - winner of two Canadian Screen Awards - has just joined us as Development Producer. Jim will bring his considerable experience to the table to help us develop the concept, package the best possible sizzle reel, and pitch to producers and broadcasters to turn UPLIFT into an incredible TV travel series that inspires and instigates positive change.

HERE'S A MESSAGE FROM JIM!

Read more about our stretch goals in the KICKSTARTER GOALS section below.

----------------------------------------------

WHAT
IS UPLIFT?

UPLIFT is a documentary
series in which hosts Barnabe and Nisha travel to different countries to meet people
affected by a conflict or complex issue and the community builders, artists,
activists, social entrepreneurs and innovators working on solutions.

The
style is entertaining, fast-paced and on-the-move. Each episode
is shot on location in one country and focuses on a specific issue such as
human trafficking, war and reconciliation, the criminal justice system,
education and health, or an environmental crisis. We’ll visit communities and
meet people from different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, and we’ll ask
them to recount their firsthand experiences with the issue. Our goal is to
understand the problem or conflict from multiple perspectives, respecting the
fact that as outsiders we cannot know all the intricacies.

We’ll then spend time with a person or group
implementing innovative ideas to address the issue. We’ll look at what drives
them, their tactics, the obstacles they face, and their impact.

Here
are some examples of the kinds of changemakers and organizations we’d like to
profile:

Catherine Hoke’s Defy Ventures in the United States helps former drug
dealers, gang leaders and others with criminal histories tap into their
entrepreneurial skills to launch legit businesses.

Slavery is a reality for approximately 30 million people, half of them from India. Hasina Kharbhih uses a holistic model that engages all stakeholders to combat human trafficking through prevention and prosecution, the rescue and rehabilitation of victims, and by creating economic opportunities for families living in extreme poverty.

John Badalu fights homophobia
by showcasing the talents and stories of Indonesia’s
LBGTQ community in an annual film festival, Q-munity.

Celso Athayde works with youth in Brazil’s favelas, producing
books and movies through CUFA’s audiovisual
training program, which earns the youth an income and educates outsiders about
the realities of life in the slums.

Kamal Mouzawak’s Souk el Tayeb uses the organic, sustainable
food movement in Lebanon to support
local farmers, encourage health and wellness, and break down barriers between
people from different sectarian groups.

Noorjehan Safia Naz’s growing network of Muslim women across India cultivates leadership skills and legal knowledge, empowering women to engage the law and advocate for themselves when their rights are denied.

Find more examples further down on this page.

WHY
UPLIFT?

The world depicted by the mainstream media
is mostly daunting—as the saying goes: if it bleeds, it leads. People are left
feeling paralyzed and hopeless and find it hard to believe that the world is
more tolerant and less violent than ever before.

Through our work and travels in conflict
zones we’ve seen firsthand that despite some very tough realities, overall the
human story is much more about resilience and innovation than it is about death
and destruction.

We
want to bear witness to the ingenuity and triumphs of the human spirit. We need
more TV & media content that challenges our biases and shows respect, rather than pity,
fear or condescension, for people with different experiences from our own.

We
believe TV can be used to:

build empathy by immersing viewers
in other people’s realities and giving them a sense of what it’s like from different perspectives,

inspire by introducing
viewers to the legions of community
builders, artists, activists, social entrepreneurs and innovators working to
make the world a better place. These changemakers come from all walks of life
and operate in every country but all have something in common… they saw a
problem and took action. We can feel inspired to take action ourselves, and

initiate positive change by
learning about the many trends, tools and practices we
can all take part in, such as crowd sourcing, micro loans, petition
platforms, the sharing economy, the makers movement and others.

Technological progress provides us with an unprecedented
ability to change things for the better. Why can’t TV be a medium for positive
change?

The revolution should be televised!

OUR
KICKSTARTER GOALS

We’ve been talking to producers who like
the show and want to see a proof of concept.

We’re looking to raise $12K to shoot our extended demo (a half-length episode) and “sizzle
reel” abroad. The sizzle reel
serves to show producers and broadcasters the concept in action—its style and feel—when we pitch
the show and ourselves as hosts. We're looking to shoot the pilot in India, Myanmar or Lebanon depending on our final budget.

We're covering our own airfare. The Kickstarter funding will be used to cover some of the production costs and to bring our filmmaker. Transportation costs include transportation on the ground. Here’s how the funding will be used:

We recognize our responsibility to spend your money wisely and to budget efficiently.

We are aiming to shoot around
January-February of 2015, to have the demo/pilot completed by March/April, and conversations with producers will be ongoing.

Our
stretch goals:

The
demo and the support we get through Kickstarter will be invaluable when we’re
pitching to TV execs, but our ambitions go beyond that.

$17K We'll shoot the demo to pitch to producers and a pilot episode we'll distribute online! We'll up the production value by upgrading some of our equipment and doing more in post (editing).

$21K+ We'll shoot the demo AND a full pilot episode AND accomplished TV Director Jim Morrison IV - winner of two Canadian Screen Awards who has just joined us as Development Producer - will travel with us! Jim will bring his considerable experience to the table to help us develop the concept, package the best possible sizzle reel, and pitch to producers and broadcasters! The funding will allow us to have a second camera operator and additional local support on the ground during the shoot, and to cover more of the post production costs. Help us get there!

$$$+ If we
blow past our target, we’ll be able to finance part of the series on our own
and we’ll be in a much stronger position to negotiate with producers. We'll film a few episodes in different countries exploring hard-hitting issues and how they're being tackled, and release them as a documentary mini series.

Here’s how you can help!

Fund us on this
pagefor any amount and in exchange for rewards, which you can
find on the right. Your pledge will only be accepted if we meet or exceed our funding target.

Share this
campaign
on your social media networks.

Get in touch with us with
feedback, contacts and ideas for changemakers we should profile.

MORE
ABOUT THE SHOW

Our
style:

As
hosts, our style is genuine, unpolished, empathetic and blunt. We take the
issues we explore seriously, and also believe it’s important to have fun and be
lighthearted. We’re definitely not risk averse; we’re quite capable of roughing
it and will do everything necessary to get to the story. The show will be beautifully
shot on the move, verité style so you’ll feel like you’re traveling with us.

A sample episode structure:

Explore: The episode starts with captivating scenes as we explore natural
and cultural landscapes and explain why we’ve come to this country and what
issue we’ll be looking at. We interact with people from different walks of
life, discussing the issue to get different perspectives.

Experience: We visit the region/sites where the social or environmental
challenge is taking place. We meet people with firsthand experience and
knowledge of the problem to show the viewer how it’s affecting them.

Inspire: We meet the changemaker(s) and see how their work is creating
impact on the ground and what lessons can be learned.

Here
are more examples of changemakers we’d like to profile on UPLIFT!

Ruth Ibegbuna’s RECLAIM in the United Kingdom enables young
people from Manchester’s most disadvantaged
communities to engage directly with the decision makers
influencing their lives.

Ayub Pathan works on sectarian
conflict resolution in the south of Thailand,
through a grassroots bilingual journalism movement with Deep South Watch.

The AAPP is creating employment opportunities in Myanmar for former political prisoners
through a taxi service called the Golden
Harp.

Despite being harassed,
threatened and sued by the government of Ecuador,
Gloria Ushuiga continues her tireless battle for the rights of the indigenous Sápara
nation whose survival is under threat from Chevron’s oil exploitation in
the Amazon rainforest.

OUR TEAM

I’m the Communications Architect at the Centre for
Social Innovation, a coworking space, community and launchpad for people working
to make the world a better place. I have a Masters in Journalism from Columbia
University and a B.A. in Political Science from Concordia University. I’ve
travelled extensively, including in hotspots such as Iraq, Iran, Syria, Gaza
and Lebanon, to better understand the realities on the ground. Where you’re
born is truly the luck of the draw.

Years ago while living in the Middle East, I worked
with locals to organize tours across the West Bank. We operated in a volatile
political and military environment and took university students, tourists and
documentary filmmakers to meet residents from all walks of life. Seeing people
of such different backgrounds talk, open up, share stories and walk away with
new, broader perspectives was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
I created UPLIFT because I want to help reveal our common humanity and
boundless potential.

I've been working in international development and
education for a decade. I spent five years on
the Thai-Burma border, teaching, training and managing social
entrepreneurship projects. I learned early on that the concept of ‘poverty’ can be heavily flawed; that there is a much deeper, richer
side to people’s lives. I'm so lucky to have worked alongside changemakers who channelled their
outrage into helping others. I carry their stories with me everywhere I go.

I lived in a Burmese refugee camp for two years,
eating rations and sleeping on a reed mat, teaching critical thinking under the
shadow of the Burmese dictatorship. That time
inspired my Master’s in Education, which looked at how governments use
education systems to reward conformity and repress creativity, and the
negative repercussions that can have for society as a whole. We should encourage and celebrate out-of-the-box thinking; solving the challenges we face requires new approaches and imagination.

I’m really excited to have just joined the UPLIFT team as Development Producer to take this project to the next level! I’ve been in the industry for over fifteen years and this job has blessed me with travel to almost every continent and 40+ countries around the world, and given me access to the full range of the human experience. I work primarily as a director. I have done dozens of music videos, commercials, TV shows and documentaries. I am a camera nerd, so I also find myself working as a Director of Photography. I have produced literally hundreds of hours of content. I currently series direct a show for the Food Network that now screens all over the world on National Geographic, TLC, Discovery, UKTV, and Biography.

I'm a Toronto based documentary filmmaker and cinematographer. I have a BFA in Film Studies from Ryerson University, where I also received the Norman Jewison Filmmaker award. Since
I was a youngling, I've taken a strong connection to social and
environmental issues, so much that I was voted “Most likely to join
Greenpeace” at my high school graduation.

My
directorial debut, TAR, was awarded Best Short at Planet in Focus 2013
and has now screened in festivals across the globe. I've also produced
works for a number of changemakers and nonprofits, such as the Centre
for Social Innovation and the David Suzuki Foundation. Through my
filmmaking, I strive to create works that promote positive change and
sustainability for our shared ecology.

Risks and challenges

Creating a TV show requires significant financial and broadcaster support. Our conversations with producers and broadcasters will be ongoing, and we’ll explore different funding and distribution models including online to make it happen. Shooting in other countries that may be experiencing some form of conflict or turmoil can pose challenges and dangers that could slow or halt production. There could be other unexpected delays but we will endeavor to make every deadline we set. No matter what happens, we’ll keep our supporters updated.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 10 or more
About $9

UPLIFT SWAGGER! Receive an advance digital download of the demo (or pilot if we reach our stretch goal!), three beautiful photos taken on location in the first country we visit, PLUS we'll mail you a thank you note and three UPLIFT stickers!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 25 or more
About $22

TICKET TO CHANGEMAKER MIXER EVENT! Receive an advance digital download of the demo (or pilot if we reach our stretch goal!), three beautiful photos taken on location in the first country we visit, PLUS a ticket to our exclusive Changemaker Mixer event in Toronto (or a link to the live-stream) where you'll meet social innovators and entrepreneurs, discover their projects, and get an update from us.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 75 or more
About $67

SOUVENIR SWEETNESS! Receive an advance digital download of the demo (or pilot if we reach our stretch goal!), beautiful photos of the country we visit, an invite to the Changemaker Mixer event, PLUS a unique souvenir from our trip, along with a thank you note and sticker!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 125 or more
About $111

NEW STRETCH GOAL REWARD! Receive an advance digital download of the demo + pilot, beautiful photos of the country we visit, an invite to the Changemaker Mixer event, PLUS a souvenir from our trip, PLUS an UPLIFT T-shirt along with a thank you note and sticker!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 150 or more
About $134

GET CREDIT! Receive a copy of the demo (or pilot if we reach our stretch goal!) and beautiful photos of the country we visit on a USB key, an invite to the exclusive Changemaker Mixer event in Toronto (or link to live-stream), PLUS a unique souvenir from our trip, along with a thank you note and sticker, PLUS we'll list your name in the credits!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 300 or more
About $267

PRODUCER PACKAGE! Receive an advance digital download of the demo (or pilot if we reach our stretch goal!) and beautiful photos of the country we visit on a USB key, an invite to the Changemaker Mixer event, a unique souvenir from our trip, along with a thank you note and sticker, PLUS we'll have a drink together over Skype, PLUS you'll get a PRODUCER credit in the demo/pilot.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 500 or more
About $445

IS THAT A HALO AROUND YOUR HEAD!? We can only begin to thank you with personalized updates from us, a ticket to the exclusive Changemaker Mixer event in Toronto (or link to live-stream), a USB flash drive with copy of demo or pilot and photography, a beautiful framed photo from our trip, thank you note and stickers, PLUS an awesome souvenir from our trip, PLUS a DINNER PARTY at our place or drinks over Skype, PLUS an EXECUTIVE PRODUCER credit in the demo/pilot!